Gran Sol — Hotel in Barbate

In my mind the Gran Sol has the best location in the whole of Zahara - right on the beach front and surrounded by a huge choice of restaurants all within just minutes. We had a sea view room above the pool which was definitely worth paying slightly more for - who could ever get bored of the view. The pool itself was a tranquil haven and we never had any problems getting a bed at any point in the day. ||Those are the highlights of the Gran Sol. The hotel let itself down on a number of areas:||- Room was initially well serviced but towards the end of the week glasses weren’t replaced and nor was the toilet roll replenished for 3 days. Also why have a safe in the room if it doesn’t work?||- Staff on reception did not seem interested in helping - we had to ask for WiFi code and parking which should be standard at check in & physically take the broken tv remote after 2 days of no action. Perhaps we misinterpreted their attitude due to their limited English and our very limited Spanish.||- Breakfast is ok albeit with plenty of meats, breads, cheese and fruit but you will get better quality, authentic breakfast at the nearby bars||- Everything in this hotel comes in plastic. The breakfast buffet was an array of plastic right down to filling the coffee machines with bottled water and yoghurt served in plastic ‘glasses’. ||Parking is a nightmare throughout all of Zahara and you will see many get stuck several times a day in the sand outside the hotel. If you get parked within a 5 minute walk you will feel like you’ve won the lottery.||Overall our stay was perfectly comfortable and we would no doubt stay here again for the location. Just a shame it isn’t better as it really could...

....I'd detected a hotel full of un-happy workers.||That's exactly what I felt upon arrival at the Hotel Gran Sol. It screams of a very sad situation and a business absolutely replete with undervalued and unfulfilled staff. In the ten days we chose to spend here, I think I met one member of staff who seemed to enjoy her work here. ||On many a day, I found two elderly Gran Sol proprietors in the bar area seemingly scratching their heads over the failings of their once successful hotel business. ||Don't get me wrong, at the moment at least, it operates as a fairly decent 3☆ hotel (even if the reception and staff members are curt and unhelpful) however, it's in an absolute prime location but it could be so much more, with some decent staff training, their empowerment and not much cost.||Due to its beautiful beach front location I've never seen a hotel get through so much plastic! The public war on plastic isn't going away but here you'll find plastic capsule Nespresso machines which are filled by plastic bottles of water! Yogurt served in plastic, butter served in plastic and even small plastic sachets of Olive Oil. It's completely ridiculous. ||I'd like to say to the aging Gran Sol Hotel owners....let your beautiful grandchild go - and let your very able Management Team and staff - take up the reigns and start...

The hotel is lovely and a great location on the beach. Pool area is great and the walls offer good shelter on windy days. Cleanliness is excellent and the staff are very pleasant. Breakfast offers a reasonable choice with great coffee machines.||||Parking in summer is a big issue. We decided to pay for the carpark 10 euros a day, but this is 10 mins walk from the hotel. Loading and unloading the car is dreadful as although there are some places allegedly for this, we saw the same cars parked thete all day so we had no where to park for even 5 mins. ||||The biggest disappointment was the half board option. We have stayed at this hotel many times and enjoyed the half board. This time there was only one meal choice available for half board with no other option and the food quality was not like it has been in the past. We ate out for lunch in a near by restaurant and had more food, better quality for less than the half board in the hotel. Drinks are also more expensive in the hotel than anywhere else we went. ||||We would definitely go back again, but we won't be eating...